[FIXED] Valorant error: "This game is not available on your operating system"

Hallway Valorant screenshot

Valorant

Valorant suddenly shows you this weird error message that makes no sense, if you're running Windows, there is no way Valorant is not available for your Operational System, but how do we fix this?

The error shows the following message on your Valorant launcher:

"This game is not available on your operating system"

This issue can start happening with a computer that already was able to run the game before, leaving players confused with why it suddenly appears. If you played Valorant on your computer before, it certainly is compatible with your operating system!

Cause of the operating system error

We do not have a step-to-step way of reproducing this error, but rumors claim that it is related to Windows 10 updates, disabling them could help you to avoid this error back in the future. Disabling Windows 10 updates have its disadvantages, as the updates are also related to security changes on your system.

The error is also related to power outages, the abrupt shutdown of your computer during a Valorant game can potentially cause the error to appear.

How to fix the Valorant operating system error?

There is no confirmed main way of going through this issue, however, the Valorant community created workarounds that you're able to use to get it fixed.

The first thing to try is to close the launcher and try opening it again to check if it'll work.

One commonly reported fix is simply restarting your computer, but we recommend doing this one after you try the below ones!

Cleaning Valorant files stored in localappdata

Applications can save files inside a folder called localappdata and then read back this information when they're executing, for some reason, deleting some files that Valorant stored inside localappdata can solve the issue.

  • Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open the Windows task manager
  • Select the valorant.exe process and press delete
  • Press Windows+R
  • On the Run window, copy and paste the following: %localappdata%/VALORANT/Saved and then press Enter.
  • Delete the Config, and the Logs folder and open Valorant again

Do not delete any other folder or files outside the folders mentioned, changing files inside the localappdata folder can make applications start to malfunction.

Using Windows compatibility mode for Valorant

Some users claim this works, and if it does, it's in mysterious ways. The Windows compatibility mode is supposed to be used to make older programs run in newer Operating Systems, so it's not easy to understand how it makes the game able to recognize you're using Windows, as it didn't before.

  • Right-click Valorant
  • On the window that will open, click on Compatibility
  • Check: "Run this program in compatibility mode for"
  • Try running the game with any of the settings

Make sure you are running Windows 10

Some users can run Valorant on Windows 7 when it has the latest updates, but to avoid any issues it's best to get Windows 10!

Non-genuine Windows copies may also trigger related issues, running Valorant on an updated and genuine Windows 10 machine is the best way to know the issue may not be on your end.

Contact the Valorant support

If none of the above worked for you, the best thing to do is to contact Valorant support instead of messing around with your computer. The issue could either be something too specific or on their end.

Hopefully, this article was helpful, if you have any insight on why this issue happens or more ways to fix it that could be added here, let us know, unfortunately, some errors stay mysterious.

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